TWI Industrial Member Report Summary 171/1982
By J G Wylde and S Elliott
Background
This work forms part of a large research programme to investigate the mechanical properties of welds made with non-arc joining processes. It deals specifically with the fatigue properties of fully penetrating single-pass electron beam welds in a 13mm thick steel plate to BS 4360: 1972 Grade 50D. The effect of top bead undercutting on the fatigue performance of the welds is investigated. Also studied is the, effect of dressing the weld beads by grinding and of applying an electron beam cosmetic pass. It is shown that transverse butt welded joints, made by the electron beam process, possess similar properties to joints made by arc-welding processes e.g. submerged-arc or manual metal arc, and that they can be classified using the existing fatigue design rules for welded steel joints.